Free tickets available August 1 as Cameron University kicks off Academic Festival with best-selling author Dr. Khaled Hosseini

Cameron University will kick off its triennial Academic Festival, “Afghanistan: Its Complexities and Relevance,” with a moderated stage conversation featuring Dr. Khaled Hosseini, best-selling author of “The Kite Runner” and “A Thousand Splendid Suns.” The event, which is free and open to the public, takes place at Cameron University Theatre on Tuesday, August 30 at 7:30 p.m. and will be moderated by Cameron’s president, Cindy Ross. A reception and book signing will follow the discussion. Tickets are required for admission and can be reserved online at www.cameron.edu/festival7 beginning Monday, August 1. Tickets will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis.

“It is a great privilege to welcome Dr. Khaled Hosseini to the Cameron campus,” says CU President Cindy Ross. “We are honored that Dr. Hosseini has selected Cameron University as one of his few speaking engagements this year. His insights about his native country will provide the perfect launch for the Academic Festival.”

Born in Kabul, Afghanistan in 1965, Dr. Hosseini is the son of a former diplomat whose position in the Afghan Foreign Ministry relocated his family to Paris in 1976. The family’s 1980 planned return to Kabul was thwarted by a communist coup and an invasion by the Soviet Union. Granted political asylum, the family settled in California. Dr. Hosseini, who received his medical degree from the University of California at San Diego, practiced internal medicine from 1996-2004. During this time, he wrote “The Kite Runner,” an international bestseller and prizewinning novel that has been published in 48 countries. “The Kite Runner” chronicles the friendship between two boys growing up in Kabul. Their intertwined lives, and their fates, reflect the eventual tragedy of the world around them. In 2007, Hosseini published his second novel, “A Thousand Splendid Suns.” The novel is set against the volatile events of Afghanistan’s last 30 years and has been published in 40 countries. Both novels provide an insightful view of Afghan culture.

“Afghanistan: Its Complexities and Relevance” will continue throughout the 2011-12 academic year with numerous opportunities for the public to gain an understanding of the Central Asian country.

The McCasland Foundation of Duncan is the primary sponsor of “Afghanistan: Its Complexities and Relevance.” Over the years, support for the Academic Festivals has come from the McCasland/Amquest Bank Endowed Chair, established by the McCasland Foundation in 1989. Additional funding for this year’s Festival is provided by the Cameron University Foundation and through Cameron University Lectures and Concerts Series.

For more information, contact the Cameron University Office of Public Affairs at 581-2211 or via email at publicaffairs@cameron.edu.